Misk Academy UX | UI Design Bootcamp
Project duration: 1 Week
Team: Lama Alharbi, Hana Kanee
Goal of research:
To find pain points of meeting up with friends and to find a solution to this problem
User in mind:
Groups of friends in Saudi Arabia.
Problem statment
Groups of friends tend to have difficulty in planning events and hangouts because they rely on chat apps and calls where details of the plans can get forgotten, changed or lost in conversation.
interviews:
We interviewed 10 users of the users category we had in mind, with questions that would help us understand the users needs and pain points, but after viewing and studying the answers we came to the realisation that the questions we asked didn’t give us a clear understanding of the users’ perspective.
In order to fix that we went back and iterated the interview questions by adding detailed follow up questions and sent it to our users, we got a new clear and useful answers for our research.
- How do you usually make plans with friends?
- How much time dose it usually take you and your friends to agree on a plan?
- When hanging out with friends or family how do you share the location or the place you would like to go to? You said you use whatsapp and google maps for example, why is that? What is special about whatsapp for making plans?
- How does making plans with friends and family make you feel? And why?
- Describe to me your last experience with making a plan with your friend group?
- What did you agree and disagree on?
- How do you feel when the plans you make with your friend and family gets canceled?
- What kind of details would you like to see in an E-invite?
- can you tell me 5 things you and your friends or family usually argue about when making plans?
- What platform do you prefer to use to make plans with family and friends?
- What would you like to see in an app that helps you make plans with others? Any suggestions or ideas?
- When you find yourself free on a day and you want to make plans on the spot, how do you let your friends know that you are up to hangout and make a simple plan for the day? if there is an easier way to do it that dose not include messaging or calling your friends to ask if they are free will you use it?
Desk research:
We found similar apps which are Raft App & Calendly, the two apps have a similar purpose to our app but have deferent key features.
Iterated virsion
- Planning is done through chat apps and phone calls
- People argue most about date and time, location, and food options
- They complain of easily losing track with who is coming and who isn’t
- Annoyance with last minute cancellations
- Many users say they prefer being invited over planning it themselves
- Some people want others to know that they are free to make any plans anytime
- some users would like to see what others are up to before sticking to a plan
- They want anonymity
- We noticed that people are used to their old methods but are open to new ways that are simpler
Our solution is having an app where people can create plans easily with simple enough details. Which is laid out for viewing and people can RSVP and join the fun just by clicking a button.
Key features of our digital solution (MVP):
- creating plans with friends and allowing others to join ( from friend list)
- I am free to hang out option
- viewing all of the plans the user’s friends created with an easy “join” button
- an option for making some events private between the people who are invited only
User Flow:
Sketches:
Paper prototype testing :
- We highlighted the user avatar icon with a halo to indicate when they’re available, we did not have this option before and it was confusing to tell if the “i’m free” switch on the top right was activated or not.
- A “my Friends” screen so users can view their friends list and edit or delete contacts.
- We added the option to scroll in the “check your plans” page to leave space for more plans.
- We changed the method used to add friends to the guest list from text box to a drop down menu so it would be easer for the user to just click and add names instead of typing it out of memory.
- We moved the “Back” button from the bottom left to the top left so its easer on the users hand to find it.
As we were studying the app the user needs we came up with ideas and features that could attract more users and expand the
- An option in the bio for personal dietary preference and travel plans.
- Add location sharing and tracking to see if your friend is coming soon or not
- open ended option, so people can join in anytime in a specific time frame “free for all”
- Use google maps pin location feature like whatsapp does
- an option to remind you to cancel a day or two in advanced instead of forgetting to until last minute
- the host of the event can add co-hosts who can edit on the plan of the event too
- “places I would love to visit” list
- “My friends” screen
